Residents say the shoe store is popular and many people support the owners.

"It's not like they're taking all the money and running somewhere else,” says Paul Trantham. “They put back into this community. It is very unfair to them that they have to experience this for a second time."

Last November, masked armed robbers rushed the store terrorizing the family with handguns, demanding more money than they could get from the registers.

That was November. Since last week's robbery, police are trying to keep closer watch. Armed robberies in this immediate neighborhood now are 47 percent higher than a year ago.

"I guess the businesses now struggle just to survive and hope that maybe the next robbery won't lead to a homicide. It is horrible what's going on,” says Phil Pannell, president of the Congress Heights Civil Association.

The masked robbers from November are all in jail awaiting sentencing. All pleaded guilty after police were able to trace them.